Gallery Whispers continues the saga of Deputy Chief Inspector Robert Skinner. The mystery centers on the attempted suicide of a terminally ill patient. It is not a simple case as the tape and scissors she would have needed to kill herself are not at the scene. After trying unsuccessfully to turn this case into a murder it gets shoved to low priority as the Edinburgh police search for a freelance terrorist whose target may be the upcoming world economic summit to be held in their city. The attempted suicide becomes an issue again when the terrorist is killed in a plane crash and another terminally ill patient kills herself in the same manner.

In typical Quintin Jardine style he keeps the investigation of the suicides going in tandem with the preparations for the economic summit. Many blind trails are involved with the investigation until whether they were suicide or murder is resolved. The biggest surprise however Quintin offers in this book relates to the meeting of the world powers in Edinburgh.

If you are a Skinner fan there are some new complications in the lives of the main characters involved in the earlier books. Reviewing the other books I have said the relationship and problems of the characters are the strongest point of Mr. Jardine's writing. In Gallery Whispers the plot and the surprise ending over shadow the character's personal problems.

I have given this book four thistles for the strength of the ending, the plot development and the questions it raises for the reader on their own feelings about assisted suicide.